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Potential Significant Effect
<br /> The project could have potentially significant impacts to air quality and global climate change from
<br /> greenhouse gas emissions.
<br /> Description of Specific Impact
<br /> Various gases in the Earth's atmosphere, classified as atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs), play a
<br /> critical role in determining the Earth's surface temperature. Solar radiation enters Earth's atmosphere
<br /> from space, and a portion of the radiation is absorbed by the Earth's surface. The Earth emits this
<br /> radiation back toward space, but the properties of the radiation change from high-frequency solar
<br /> radiation to lower-frequency infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases, which are transparent to solar
<br /> radiation, are effective in absorbing infrared radiation. As a result, this radiation that otherwise would
<br /> have escaped back into space is now retained, resulting in a warming of the atmosphere. This
<br /> phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect.
<br /> Among the prominent GHGs contributing to the greenhouse effect are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
<br /> (CH4), ozone (03), water vapor, nitrous oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Human-caused
<br /> emissions of these GHGs in excess of natural ambient concentrations are responsible for enhancing the
<br /> greenhouse effect. Emissions of GHGs contributing to global climate change are attributable in large part
<br /> to human activities associated with the industrial/manufacturing, utility, transportation, residential, and
<br /> agricultural sectors. In California, the transportation sector is the largest emitter of GHGs, followed by
<br /> electricity generation. A byproduct of fossil fuel combustion is CO2. Methane, a highly potent GHG,
<br /> results from offgassing associated with agricultural practices and landfills. Processes that absorb and
<br /> accumulate CO2,often called CO2"sinks,"include uptake by vegetation and dissolution into the ocean.
<br /> As the name implies, global climate change is a global problem. GHGs are global pollutants, unlike
<br /> criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants, which are pollutants of regional and local concern,
<br /> respectively. California is the 12th to 16th largest emitter of CO2 in the world and produced 492 million
<br /> gross metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2004.
<br /> The cumulative increase in GHG concentrations in the atmosphere has resulted in and will continue to
<br /> result in increases in global average temperature and associated shifts in climatic and environmental
<br /> conditions. Multiple adverse environmental effects are attributable to global climate change, such as sea
<br /> level rise, increased incidence and intensity of severe weather events (e.g., heavy rainfall, droughts), and
<br /> extirpation or extinction of plant and wildlife species. Given the significant adverse environmental
<br /> effects linked to global climate change induced by GHGs, the emission of GHGs is considered a
<br /> significant cumulative impact. Emissions of GHGs contributing to global climate change are attributable
<br /> in large part to human activities associated with the industrial/manufacturing, utility, transportation,
<br /> residential, and agricultural sectors. Therefore, the cumulative global emissions of GHGs contributing to
<br /> global climate change can be attributed to every nation, region, and city, and virtually every individual on
<br /> Earth. The challenge in assessing the significance of an individual project's contribution to global GHG
<br /> emissions and associated global climate change impacts is to determine whether a project's GHG
<br /> emissions—which, it can be argued, are at a micro scale relative to global emissions—result in a
<br /> cumulatively considerable incremental contribution to a significant cumulative macro-scale impact.
<br /> The long-term, continuing, development in the Project area involves not only the Project but the existing
<br /> composting operation located 4.5 miles north of the Project and the projected (2027) reopening of the
<br /> Lost Hills County landfill. It has been estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency that, globally,
<br /> landfilling accounts for 730 million tons annually of carbon dioxide equivalents, or more than 12% of
<br /> anthropogenic methane emissions. Although seemingly small, landfilling is the fourth largest contributor
<br /> Findings of Fact—Section 15091 March 15,2016
<br /> H.M.Holloway Landfill Modification Project Final Board of Supervisors
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